The first steps in the political consolidation of English were taken
during the decision-making which followed the First World War,
in 1919. The mandates system introduced by the League of
Nations transferred former German colonies in Africa, the Middle
East, Asia, and the Pacific to the supervision of the victors, and
English language influence grew immensely in the areas which
came to be mediated directly by Britain (such as in Palestine,
Cameroon and Tanganyika) or by other English-speaking nations:
examples include Australia (in Papua New Guinea), New Zealand
(in Samoa) and South Africa (in South-West Africa — present-day
Namibia).

But the growth of linguistic influence through political expansion
was already on the wane. Far more important for the English
language, in the post-war world, was the way in which the cultural
legacies of the colonial era and the technological revolution
were being felt on an international scale. English was now emerging
as a medium of communication in growth areas which would
gradually shape the character of twentieth-century domestic and
professional life.

International relations

The League of Nations was the first of many modern international
alliances to allocate a special place to English in its proceedings:

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